Love Advisor – Movie Review & Summary

Kit is a superstitious guy who reads horoscopes, tea leaves, and fortune-telling books. He meets with his friend, August, at the coffee shop. Kit offers to do a tea-leaf reading session for August. His friend is interested, especially in learning more about his love life.

Recently, August came out of a relationship with his ex-boyfriend, Non. Kit uses the tea leaf readings to offer guidance on his friend's past relationship. Satisfied with the answer, August is ready to move on. Now, he wants to learn about his relationship prospects with Meen, a new love interest in his life.

Meen is a mutual acquaintance of both leads. Kit is surprised to discover Meen and August have developed a romantic connection. August brags about Meen's love confession to him, irritating Kit. The fortune teller's readings start to become more hostile, as tensions rise between the two friends.

Love Advisor isn't my cup of tea. Personally, I like my BL stories to be more eventful and substantial. However, I admit the short movie has surprising artistic merit. It's gutsy to make a 30-minute film based on one long conversation between the leads. There are no distractions, other characters, or different locations. The camera is propped there for half an hour, and the actors must singlehandedly carry the story with constant dialogue. Wow, that's challenging!

Love Advisor reminds me of watching a minimalist stage play. You must pay attention to what the characters say, picking up crucial details about the story from every line. It needs a tight script to engage the viewers in the cheeky banter, but the writing underperforms. The leads have a pretty mundane exchange, not enough to keep me interested throughout the thirty minutes. As I learned about the characters' backstories and dynamics, I found their lives kinda dull. It's like eavesdropping on boring gossip.

I also don't believe the movie succeeds as a love story. When the plot unfolds, we gradually discover romantic undertones between the leads. However, they're missing sparks. The characters don't convince me they covet each other all along. Their words alone aren't powerful enough to convey an amorous connection. It's possible to write an intimate chat dripping with secret desire, but I don't feel it here. I respond to their flirting with passionless nonchalance, more like an indifferent observer than a giddy BL watcher.

This movie needs capable actors to execute the rapid-fire dialogue persuasively. Both leads do a formidable job of guiding us through the lengthy scene. August's actor (Sobita Worawut Chumueang) gives a lively and animated performance. He plays a flamboyant character with an annoying personality, but I can tolerate the occasional theatrics. He also shows solid dramatic chops as the story gets more serious. Kit's actor (Lee Long Shi) might be a little low-energy. However, he feels immersed in the role and maintains a decent rapport with his costar.

Love Advisor is filmed in only one location, so we're stuck looking at the same backdrop for the entire movie. The cinematographer introduces different camera angles and movements to make the static setting more dynamic. Despite their best efforts, the visuals will feel stale without a change of scenery. Still, I appreciate the filmmaker for doing something different than the norm. Love Advisor gets points for its creative format, expressing a BL romance through a single interaction. Regrettably, the love story is too weak, lacks excitement, and doesn't resonate with me.